The other natives on the shores of Fox channel rarely come in contact with the whites, and are in a similar primitive state. These include the Padliks and Sikosiliks, and in the same category were the natives of Southampton island, now all dead.
The Eskimos living about Frobisher bay and Cumberland gulf congregate about the whaling stations, and remain there for the greater part of the year. The whaling season in these places is in the fall, spring and early summer, so the natives have only the latter part of the summer in which to hunt deer for their winter clothing. The animals are found abundantly about the great lakes Nettilling and Amadjuak, which are located far inland to the westward.
The natives of Big island and the north shore of Hudson strait are, as before mentioned, employed on the Scotch whaling steamer, or at the stations at Repulse bay and at Lake Harbour, where a mica mine is worked; consequently they do not follow their old customs.
A whaling station was established in 1903, at Ponds inlet, and the Eskimos of the northeastern part of Baffin island will soon have their habits modified by contact with the white men; of all these northern people only those of eastern Baffin island, together with those of the Arctic coast to the northwest of Hudson bay, will remain practically uninfluenced by civilization or Christianity.
At Ponds Inlet.
CHAPTER VII.
ESKIMOS (CONTINUED).
The natives of the Labrador peninsula and those of Cumberland gulf, under the influence of the missionaries, are gradually giving up many of their ancient beliefs and customs. At present these can only be studied among the tribes as yet unvisited by the missionaries, such as those of the northwest coast of Hudson bay, who, although long acquainted with the whalers, have not been so influenced by them as to change their superstitions and beliefs.
The writer spent the winter of 1903-04 among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus on that coast, and paid some attention to these matters, deriving at the same time a large amount of information from Captain George Comer, of the whaling schooner Era, wintering alongside the Neptune. Captain Comer had already made several voyages to Hudson bay and Cumberland gulf, on all of which he had made ethnological collections and notes for the American Museum of Natural History, New York. A considerable amount of his information has been published by Dr. Franz Boas. With the exception of the Rev. Mr. Peck, at Cumberland, Captain Comer is probably the greatest authority upon the manners and customs of the Eskimos.